


A Real Cinderella Story

by Chash



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-29
Updated: 2018-03-29
Packaged: 2019-04-14 15:19:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14138814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chash/pseuds/Chash
Summary: On a theoretical level, Bellamy supports Clarke being on Tinder, and he even supports Jasper’s weird, March madness tournament to help her pick between her various first dates. It’s kind of funny.Except for the whole unrequited love thing. That part is annoying.





	A Real Cinderella Story

**Author's Note:**

> Tbh this is not the fic I was planning to post today, but I’ve been having hella writer’s block. But it’s my three-year fandomversary and I wanted to post something, so here we are!

If Bellamy hadn’t had to stay late at school for an unexpected parent meeting, the whole tournament thing probably could have been easily avoided. That’s how it feels, anyway, when he arrives at the bar an hour after he was supposed to and finds all his friends in a booth with a piece of paper, preparing some kind of bracket. They need supervision, and Clarke has her face buried in her hands, so whatever is happening is beyond her power to control.

He doesn’t think it’s a real problem until he gets to the bar to order and Gina not only has a drink ready for him, but doesn’t charge him for it.

“Really?” he asks, wary. He and Gina broke up on good terms and she’s one of his favorite people, but she’s always been notoriously stingy with free booze, and it only got worse after Jasper started reading into it and correctly intuited her crush on Raven. 

“You’re going to need it.”

He takes a solid gulp. “Why?”

She inclines her head in thought. “Clarke is dating again.”

Reflexively, he turns to look at her; she’s participating in the conversation now, a flush on her cheeks as she argues with Raven about something, and he swallows hard.

It wasn’t as if he’d really been planning to tell her how he felt, but it had been a possibility, something in the back of his mind. While she was single and not looking, it was an option, and once she starts looking and finds someone, it won’t be anymore. It’s happened a few times since he figured out how he felt about her, and nothing’s stuck yet, but obviously something will. That’s just how it works. Clarke’s too great to stay single until he sorts his own shit out; that’s going to take forever.

“Thanks for the warning.” He raises his glass in salute. “I’ll tell Jasper I paid for this.”

"You better." She smiles. “Good luck.”

The seat next to Clarke is open and waiting for him, as usual, and she’s not involved in whatever argument is happening at the moment, so he gives her a smile and a cock of his head. “This looks bad."

“The worst. Everything okay at school?”

“As much it ever is. One of the kids isn’t doing as well as his mother thinks he should be.”

“Which is obviously your problem.”

“I’m grading him wrong, yeah. She was happy to let me know how his essay was about everything but what he actually wrote. But I think I talked her down, so--next crisis. What’s going on here?”

“Bellamy!” Jasper says, before she can answer. “Perfect. You can settle this.”

“You think Bellamy’s going to take your side in a fight with his sister?” Monty asks."Have you met Bellamy?"

“If his sister is wrong.” He turns his attention back to Bellamy. “Which of these two girls should be our top seed?”

He shoves Clarke’s phone in Bellamy’s face, and Bellamy is confronted with two Tinder profiles for two attractive women, both of whom have apparently matched with Clarke.

It’s all the information he needs to figure out what's happening, but not all the time he wants to work through how he's going to respond, so he says, “I need context here.”

“We’re doing a March Madness dating tournament for Clarke,” O explains. “She wasn’t sure about Tinder, so we’re making it fun!”

“Yeah?” Bellamy says, mostly to Clarke. “How’s that working out?”

She shrugs, a little too smoothly. “I’m not sure yet. It can’t be worse than regular Tinder, right?”

“And you wanted to do regular Tinder?”

“Apparently it’s been long enough since Niylah and I broke up that I should be back on the market.”

With everyone here and already invested in the whole thing, there’s no way she’ll tell him if she’s not actually into it, so he shifts his attention to the bracket. It only has eight spots, instead of the traditional sixteen, and some of them have already been filled in with usernames.

“Was I really this late?” he asks, mostly aiming the question at Raven.

“The low seeds were pretty easy. But everyone has a lot of opinions on the top.”

“Does Clarke? It’s her date. If she’s got a favorite—“

“I’m abstaining. I don’t want to bias anyone when they do their own picks.”

He chokes on his beer. “We’re betting on this?”

"What's the point of a tournament if you don't bet on it?" Murphy asks. "Otherwise we're just matchmaking for Clarke."

Bellamy glances at Clarke again, and she shrugs, her mouth curled up in half a smile. Which means they're still going with it. They've gone too far already.

"Okay, so, explain this to me. What am I looking at?"

"Okay, so, we've got guys here," Jasper says, gesturing to the right side. "I thought it would be easier to get this side filled up, but Clarke vetoed most of them."

Clarke shrugs. "There are a lot of shitty dudes on Tinder. I'm the one who has to actually spend time with these people, ."

"Yeah." Bellamy taps his jaw. "How's that supposed to work?"

"Do you need me to explain dating to you?" she teases.

"Not _dating_. The tournament. Do you have to go on eight first dates before you have any second ones? What if you want to date two people who are seeded against each other?"

"Yeah, Clarke wanted to know all this stuff too," Jasper says, dismissive. "It's like she doesn't even believe in the wisdom of the tournament! It helps her make the hard choices."

"Highlander," Monty adds. "There can be only one."

"I'm more worried about wanting to go on second dates with four of these people, honestly," says Clarke. "The winner might end up being the person I hate the least."

Bellamy bumps his shoulder against hers. "That's how relationships usually work, yeah. You find the one person you hate the least and marry them."

"Such a romantic."

"Just being realistic here. I'm not thinking you should be expecting to find the love of your life from a Tinder tournament."

"Trust me, my expectations are rock bottom. I'm worried about Jasper."

"My investment in this is way too high and Monty's definitely going to have to talk me down," he agrees, cheerful. "Come on, it's fun!"

"If it's so fun, why aren't you doing it?"

"You don't want to start down that rabbit hole," Monty says. "He'll make you do it next."

"If it works for Clarke, I'm starting a business. _Mate Madness_. It's gonna be a thing."

"That actually sounds a lot better than just having Clarke do it. Everyone signing up--"

"Would be a nightmare," says Clarke. "What if I wanted a second date and the other person didn't? How does that work with the brackets?"

"Again, the more we talk about this, the more we encourage him," Monty says, the anxiety in his voice clear and completely understandable. Odds are good if this does become Jasper's new obsession, Monty will be his next target, which would definitely interfere with Bellamy's half-assed attempts to set him up with Miller.

So he nods. "Okay, let's just get Clarke's bracket done, watch it crash and burn, and then never speak of this again."

"Or she could find love and happiness and fulfillment," Jasper says. "Just saying! I might be a genius."

"Too unrealistic," says Clarke. "No more than two out of three. But figure out the seeding, I need to find time for eight dates."

"Eight dates is just the first round," Bellamy points out. "You've got way more to do before you're done."

"Thanks, I feel so much better." Her smile is a little hesitant, shy, and a lump rises in his throat. He knows that expression; she's invested in this, and she's worried he'll be a dick about it. "It might be fun, right?"

"Yeah," he lies. "It's going to be great."

*

"So, you don't need me to get you out of this?" he asks, the next time he and Clarke are alone. It doesn't take more than a couple days; they don't live together, but it's close. The two of them started hanging out because she and Octavia moved into the same apartment building he lived in, right after college, and for a long time she was just his sister's roommate, this girl he liked well enough but wasn't really close to.

After O and Lincoln moved in together and Clarke got a new roommate, he started spending a lot more time with her, fell for her with the inevitability of tripping down a hill. He'd been so sure he could handle it, to keep the budding feelings in check, but by the end he'd lost his footing and tumbled head over heels, like he always knew he would.

It could be worse; she's still his best friend.

She raises her eyebrows, leaning on the kitchen counter as he finds drinks for them. "Get me out of what exactly?"

"If the tournament is just peer pressure, we can figure out how to stop it. I know I wasn't there when it started--"

That makes her laugh. "I could have stopped them if I really wanted to." Her expression shifts, goes thoughtful. "I don't know. I've been trying to get into online dating, and this is a good way to just--jump in the deep end."

"That's one word for it." He smiles. "But you're good?"

"I'm going to call you if any of the dates are so bad I have to bail on them early, but I'd be doing that even if there wasn't a tournament. And I think I need to update my whole--romantic mindset," she adds, making a face.

"Yeah?"

"I'm still thinking of it is, like--you meet someone, you get to know them, you fall in love. And that's not how it works now."

"It's not? Shit, maybe I need to update mine too. How else would you do it?"

"Throw everything on the wall and see what sticks. Apparently that's modern dating."

"It doesn't have to be. You can still meet someone and fall in love if you want."

"Are you speaking from experience? I haven't heard anything good about your love life recently."

He doesn't wince, but it's close. "What, you think I should let Jasper make me a dating bracket? I'm not looking right now."

"No? Why not?"

"Jesus, don't tell me I need to justify that now. I get enough of that from Octavia."

"You don't have to justify it," she says, with a fond roll of her eyes. "I'm just curious. You haven't dated since Gina, I don't get it."

"What's to get?" But it's a question he's been expecting, especially from her, and one he knows he has to answer. Octavia and Miller have asked point-blank if it's about Clarke, and he talked around with his sister, but he's pretty sure all of his friends think, to a greater or lesser extent, that he's in love with her. And Clarke herself wouldn't think that, of course, so he's just been single for a while, without showing any signs of looking. 

Telling her is an option, and intellectually he even knows it's not a bad one. Clarke might not feel the same way right this second, but she still _could_. If he told her, she might want to give it a try, or she might even know she'd want to, if he only asked. He's not convinced this couldn't go well for him.

He just doesn't know how to ask yet.

"I haven't been feeling it," he settles on. "I'm not into apps, and I don't really want to go out and meet people. It would be nice," he adds, and his mouth goes dry with how nice he thinks it would be, if this was a date, if he could just put his arm around her, kiss her hair, just be close to her.

But he can't, so he shouldn't think about it.

"You're just lazy?" Clarke teases.

He pastes on a grin. "Blame society. I don't get hit on much, people expect me to do the work."

"And when you go out, you go out with us, so even if you wanted someone to hit on you--"

"I could be trying, and I don't want to right now. Maybe I'll change my mind, and then I can figure something out."

"You can learn all about Tinder from me."

He snorts. "Yeah, I'm never going to be excited about that. I'll just go to bars again."

"I think I just want to be excited about dating again," Clarke admits, voice soft. "It just feels like--I'm doing it to do it, I guess. Trying something new might help."

"I hope it does. But if it doesn't, let me know and we'll get you out of it."

"It's not your job to get me out of shit."

"Just my hobby."

She laughs. "Okay, yeah. If I need you, I'll let you know, but I'm really not worried."

"Cool. So, when's the first date?"

"Tomorrow."

"Nervous?"

"Not really. Treating it as a game helps. If it goes wrong, it just knocks someone out of the tournament, right?"

"Yeah, you've still got all your other options." When he smiles now, it is real, even if it hurts a little. "I hope it goes well. Keep me posted."

"Don't worry, I'll be texting you updates whenever I can."

"Can't wait to see how my bracket does."

She grins. "Definitely let me know what yours looks like. If I can't decide between two of them, I'll go with your pick."

"You're really threatening the integrity of Jasper's dating tournament," he teases.

"Just for you."

"Thanks." He jerks his head to the living room. "TV, or you need to talk more?"

"TV," she says, and they settle on the couch, and it's so close to being enough.

*

It takes Clarke three weeks to get through all the dates in the first round, and by the time they're all meeting up, Bellamy already knows everyone who's gotten to the second round, but most of their friends are actually waiting for updates. Which means that it's going to be a whole _thing_. It's not surprising, but he's still not exactly enthused.

Luckily, Gina does still like him. She knows he's into Clarke because it was a factor in their breakup, and he's always been grateful that she seems to think it's funny.

It probably helps that she and Raven are definitely going to hook up; she's doing fine. 

"How much does this suck for you?" she asks, sliding him his drink.

"They're just dates. She's not that serious about it."

Gina shrugs one shoulder. "Not that serious yet. It could still happen."

"Yeah. It's not my favorite thing," he admits. "But it's better than her just finding an actual significant other she likes, so--"

"So don't tell Jasper I'm not charging you for this drink."

He grins. "You're the best."

Raven's got an actual poster all printed out and waiting for Clarke to fill in the second-round names, and Jasper does a drumroll on the table once everyone's settled in the booth with their drinks.

"Okay," says Raven, once he's done. "Everyone got their brackets? Miller, you make one?"

"Got it," says Miller. He missed the genesis of the tournament, but Bellamy filled him it, largely so that he could whine about it as needed. And Miller is at least planning on using it as an excuse to flirt with Monty more, so some good will come of the whole mess, probably.

Raven nods. "Cool. Jasper, what's the first matchup?"

"In girls, we have Gaia versus Ontari."

"Gaia is our top seed, Ontari is our bottom," Monty says. "So if Ontari wins--"

"She didn't," Clarke says, pulling a face. "I told her I wasn't ready for anything serious yet and wanted a few dates to see how it went, and she just got up and left. In the middle of the meal. She told me she didn't need anyone wasting her time."

Raven winces. "Jesus. Okay, so, Gaia moves onto round two. Any notes on her?"

"She was cute, we had fun. I told her about the bracket and she thought it was funny, so I'm not worried about her dumping me for taking too long for date two."

"Awesome. Second bracket, Harper versus Zoe."

"Zoe goes by Monroe, and she won. Harper was cool, but we both agreed there wasn't much there. Monroe and I had more chemistry."

"You know which one's the frontrunner for round two?" asks Miller. "Any insight?"

"No spoilers. But we do have second dates set up, so that's something."

"Okay, dudes are up," says O. "Was Ilian as hot as I thought he would be? Please say yes."

Clarke laughs. "Yeah, so, Roan versus Ilian--sorry, Octavia, I'm giving it to Roan. Ilian was hot, but Roan was more fun. And had better taste in booze."

"I can live with that," says Octavia, magnanimous. "It was a tough call."

"So was Kyle and Sterling," says Clarke. "But mostly because they both kind of sucked? I think Sterling was the lesser of two evils, so we're going with him, but I wasn't thrilled about either of them."

"So, Roan's already got round two locked up too?" asks Monty.

"Sterling could be less distracted with his phone on the second date," Clarke says, with a shrug. "But yeah, we had almost no eye contract. Which was fine, I was just texting Bellamy the whole time too, but if I didn't have to, I wouldn't be going out with him again."

"What if he doesn't want to go out with you again either?" asks Murphy. "Do you have to go on a second date with the other guy, or does Roan get a bye?"

"I'm not going on another date with someone I already eliminated," says Clarke. "So I guess he'd get a bye. But Sterling's definitely going to go out with me again."

"He was checking his phone the whole time and you were too," says Murphy. "And we all know what you look like when you get texts from Bellamy, so he's definitely thinking this isn't going anywhere."

Clarke just shrugs. "The slim chance of getting laid is enough for some guys. Most guys, in my experience."

"Side bet?" Murphy says. "I bet when you ask, he says no."

"Deal."

They shake on it, and the conversation moves past Clarke's dates to other things, but Bellamy can't stop thinking about what Murphy said, and how Clarke didn't really say _anything_.

He and Clarke and Miller walk back to their building together, and she peels off on the second floor while they go on up to their own apartment.

"You know," says Miller, as Bellamy gets the door unlocked, "everyone loves a Cinderella story."

He frowns. "The Hilary Duff movie?"

"I forgot you know more about Disney movies than sports," Miller says, with a roll of his eyes like this isn't a valid way to live life. "That's when an underdog team does way better than they're supposed to. Like, you know, bottom seed in a tournament winning the whole thing. Or you winning Clarke's bracket when you're not even on it."

"Does that really count as winning? I think if she dates someone not in the bracket, it's unrelated. She'd still have a favorite person on the bracket."

"I'm trying to tell you to ask her out," says Miller. "You don't have to nitpick."

"I do, it's a curse." He sighs. "I know I should ask her out. Trust me, I didn't miss that. But it’s easier said than done, and you know it.”

“Yeah, I do. Do you at least know you're going to do it?” He frowns, and Miller clarifies, “I know I’m going to ask Monty out. Not sure when or how yet, but it’s gonna happen sooner or later, I'm sure. Is that how it is with Clarke?”

Bellamy has to stop and think about that one. Of course he’s had crushes that went nowhere, that grew and faded out without his ever saying anything, but it’s hard to imagine having that with Clarke. If she doesn’t feel the same way, he’ll try to get over her, but he wants to know for sure.

“Yeah,” he admits. “I have to tell her.”

Miller nods. “So do it soon,” he says. “Just in case anyone from this tournament thing is actually a decent prospect. You know she likes you more than any of them.”

And, weirdly, he does know that. If she’s interested, she’ll be more interested in him. He’s her best friend too.

“Did you put me winning your bracket?” he asks, finally.

“Just on one. I won’t use it if you don’t, don’t worry. Not gonna steal your confession thunder.”

He snorts. “So you just want the upset.”

“And for you to be happy and shit. I can want two things.”

“I guess I’d be pretty pissed if this tournament thing actually ended with her dating someone else,” he admits.

“Yeah,” says Miller. “That’s what I’m saying.”

*

Clarke’s first second date is with Monroe, and it ends with the two of them on good-but-platonic terms, and Clarke setting Monroe up for a date with Niylah. The second is with Sterling, who still sucks, but Clarke makes five bucks off Murphy and seems happy.

“It's weird that this is supposed to be my date with Roan for this round,” she tells Bellamy, an hour before she’s supposed to be meeting him. “I already know he and Gaia are the top two, this could just be the finals.”

“Do you even need the final dates, or do you already know which one is winning?”

“Honestly, no. They’re both fine, but—they’re different enough I feel like I don’t know how to pick. Gaia’s quiet and classy, the kind of girl my mom would love for me to bring home. I could see, like—going to concerts and nice restaurants with her, and I like that. But Roan is more of a party guy. We’d shotgun beers and complain about growing up rich.”

“So they’re both good.”

“Yeah, but they’re not—“ She huffs. “I want someone I feel like hanging out with all the time, and they both feel like they’d just be good sometimes.”

He recognizes that this is the moment almost from a distance, like he’s stepped outside of his body and is observing from a great height. This is it, his perfect opportunity, his opening. If he lets this slide past, he’ll regret it. Even if he finds someone else and he’s happy with them, he’ll always wonder what she would have said.

“But I don’t know them that well yet,” she adds, because she doesn’t know that his hands and suddenly shaking and his palms are sweating. “They might surprise me.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m pretty sure I’m going to get a winner, but I don’t know if I want to actually date either of them.”

“I hope you don’t.”

Clarke frowns, clearly confused, and he can admit it’s possibly not the best opening. But he’s winging it here. He’s never had to tell someone who’s as important to him as Clarke is that he’s interested in them, and he’s hoping he never will again.

“You don’t want a winner?” she asks.

“I don’t want you to go out with either of them. Honestly, I didn’t want you to do this in the first place.”

For a second, she still looks baffled, and then all at once understanding floods her face, this sudden comprehension that makes his stomach churn with uncertainty. She gets it, but that doesn't mean she feels the same.

Before he can freak out too much, though, she grins. "Are we actually doing this?"

"Depends on what you think we're doing." He wets his lips, and then has to laugh. "Fuck, if you already know what I'm going to say it's a lot easier."

"No, I still want to hear you say it. Why didn't you want me to do this?"

"Jesus, I hate you." He offers her a smile. "If I knew what I wanted to say, I would have said it already. You're--my favorite person in the fucking world, Clarke. And I--I think it could be really good, if we--"

To his relief, she surges forward to kiss him, a little clumsy, and it only takes him a second to realize what's happening, to pull her closer, grinning into it.

"I really thought neither of us was ever going to say it," she says, with a soft, surprised laugh. "I thought it was just going to--"

"You could have said something." He's too happy to get even a little genuine annoyance into his tone; it's all fondness.

"I always managed to convince myself you weren't interested. I wasn't sure it was worth risking--" She bites her lip, her own smile soft. "You're my favorite person too."

"Perfect," he says, and pulls her back in.

*

They're on his bed, post-coital and content, Clarke resting her head on his shoulder as he scans grubhub, looking for dinner, when she says, "Oh fuck."

He glances down at her. "What?"

She collapses into giggles against his neck. "I had a _date_. Fuck."

It takes him a second to remember too. "Shit, you did."

"I can't believe I forgot to cancel on him. I don't even have my phone in here." She rolls away from him, which sucks, but he does get a great view of her ass while she's looking for some clothes. And she settles on just pulling on one of his t-shirts, leaving her legs bare, hair loose around her shoulders, and that's just what he wanted, somehow. Not that the sex wasn't amazing, but it's more than that, this casual intimacy. Now that his big secret out and accepted and even reciprocated, the ease they had with each other hasn't suffered at all--it's only gotten better.

She flops back next to him with the phone. "What do you say to a guy you stood up because you were having sex with your best friend instead? He texted a few times."

"Family emergency."

"He might offer to reschedule."

"You blew him off and didn't even tell him, he's not going to be very happy with you. Just tell him there was a family emergency and he'll know it's bullshit. Unless you want to rip the band-aid off and tell him you were sleeping with another guy."

She worries her lip. "He was a nice guy. I don't want to be a dick here. It's not his fault he's not you."

It's just as well she's not looking at him, he doesn't want her to see how stupid his smile is. "He's your date, it's your call."

"Not helpful." She types, _I'm so sorry, I should have texted. Something came up, it looks like I'm off the market. I'll venmo you for the drinks if you want._ "Good?"

"If that's what you want to say, yeah."

"Still not helpful."

He kisses her shoulder. "I haven't even met him."

She sends the message and puts the phone on the nightstand, rolling back over for a longer kiss. "I guess it's not like I care if I burn the bridge. I'm not looking for another date with him. Or even to go back on Tinder ever again."

"No. Falling for someone is a lot better."

That makes her laugh and snuggle closer. "Yeah. This is what I'm good at."

*

"So, Gaia versus Roan," says Raven. "Who's the big winner?"

Clarke worries her lip. It was her idea to tell them like this, since everyone's together and expecting some resolution, but he knows she's still nervous. Their friends are going to be happy for them, but new relationships are the kind of good news that it's kind of awkward to share. And if anything goes wrong with this, it's going to be catastrophic for everyone.

As far as Bellamy's concerned, he's spending the rest of his life with her. But he knows it could still go wrong.

Next to him, Clarke clears her throat and gives everyone a smile. "The big winner is--Bellamy, actually."

The room doesn't go silent, because they're in a bar, and it's never silent in a bar. But their table pauses, everyone taking a moment to process the information.

Then Jasper crows, "I totally had that!"

Clarke blinks. "What?"

"My bracket. Okay, I had Sterling in the finals, not Roan, but I put Bellamy as the winner."

It's Bellamy's turn to blink. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, he won my bracket too," says Miller.

"Yup," Murphy agrees. "I thought we all knew Bellamy was going to win. Right?"

Bellamy holds up his hand. "Yeah, did anyone _not_ have me winning?"

"I had a backup," Raven says. "In case you didn't. But yeah, we all saw that coming. You should have seen your face when we were talking about it. There was no way you were going to let anyone else win this."

"I was," he grumbles, in spite of all the good evidence to the contrary. "I didn't have to tell her _now_."

"But you did," says Clarke. "So--everyone wins? We all got the right final seed?"

"Did you?" he asks.

"I picked you, didn't I?" she shoots back, and he smiles.

"Yeah, you did." He stands. "Okay, since everyone but me got it right, next round is on me. I had Gaia."

There are general cheers as he leaves, and Gina smiles as he leans against the bar. "So, you won the tournament?"

"To the surprise of absolutely no one. Except maybe you." She cocks her head and smiles. "I assume you wouldn't have given me all the free drinks if you thought it was going to work out for me."

"Or I knew you'd be freaking out and in need of support."

"Or that. I told them I'd buy this round, do I get a discount for my life being awesome?"

She grins like a shark. "No way. Full change."

He glances back at Clarke, laughing with Raven and O, who are probably pressing her for details. Her face is flushed, pleased, and when she catches his eye, she shrugs, helpless and happy.

He knows the feeling.

"Yeah," he tells Gina, fishing out his wallet. "Totally worth it."


End file.
